Thought awards season was over? Think again! Empire, the world’s biggest selling film magazine, hosted their annual awards, sponsored by Three, which celebrate the best films of 2016 as voted for by the public. So, who took home gold this year?
Well, as it is voted for by the public, you can say goodbye to Oscar contenders like La La Land (which took only one prize for Best Soundtrack), Manchester by the Sea, and Moonlight, for these are the awards that fans get to vote for, and the people have spoken. Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them took home the most awards, bagging Best Production Design, Best Make Up and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design, and Best Actor for Eddie Redmayne. While the Harry Potter spin off may have taken home the most awards, it was Star Wars spin off Rogue One that took home the biggest awards, with Best Film, Best Director for Gareth Edwards and Best Actress for Felicity Jones under it’s belt.
It’s a time for fans to rejoice when their favourite blockbusters can win awards, but I imagine there are many who call Bullshit Artist on the fact that The Greasy Strangler took Best Comedy over Deadpool and The Nice Guys. Don’t get me wrong, The Greasy Strangler is a weird, wonderful, completely uncomfortable comedic masterpiece that deserves the award fully, but Deadpool was a huge fan favourite, cropping in just about every best of the year list imaginable, so the fact that it didn’t win even with such a large following is quite shocking. Still, it did take home Best Screenplay, which many would agree it deserves. Another surprise would be mediocre sequel Jason Bourne taking Best Thriller over the critically acclaimed likes of Captain America: Civil War, Hell or High Water, and Nocturnal Animals. Looks like Bourne still packs a punch with audiences. So Marvel missed out on this award, but did pick one up for Best Visual Effects for Doctor Strange, which was easily Marvel’s most visually ambitious film to date. Rounding out the genre awards were Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi which went to the much deserving A Monster Calls, and Best Horror which went to The Witch, also taking home Best Female Newcomer for star Anya-Taylor Joy.
Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake took home the awards for Best British Film, with Daniel Blake himself Dave Johns winning Best Male Newcomer. Keeping it British, Oasis documentary Supersonic took Best Documentary and The Night Manager won Best TV Show. In the realm of animation, Finding Dory took home Best Animated Feature, against stiff competition from Your Name, Anomalisa, Kubo and the Two Strings and Moana, and the short that preceded Moana, Inner Workings, took Best Animated Short. Moving away from films altogether, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End unsurprisingly won Best Video Game. Man, how did it win against the gripping story and unbelievable game play of Fifa 17?…
Wrapping things up, Tom Hiddleston was named the Empire Hero (which is ironic considering his most acclaimed role is a villain), Leon director Luc Besson was named Empire Inspiration, and Sir Patrick Stewart was named Empire Legend, and I don’t think anyone is going to argue with that.
That’s it for the Three Empire Awards 2017, did your favourites win?
Let us know in the comments!